1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cooking monitors, and more particularly to a monitoring device and method for commercial ovens used, e.g., in restaurants, for cooking a plurality of food items requiring different cooking times. As an example, restaurant ovens frequently cook beef roasts, cooked to a precise degree of doneness, but which require different cooking times because the roasts have different sizes or because the roasts are put in the oven at different times to accommodate a flow of patrons.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Because restaurant cooks have other tasks to perform, it is desirable to provide a temperature monitoring system which will indicate when a food item, such as a roast, has attained a desired degree of doneness. Such monitors may accommodate several food items with separate temperature-sensing probes, and may be arranged to sound alarms to indicate that the internal temperature of a food item, as sensed by the probe, has reached a preset level corresponding to a desired degree of doneness. An example of such a monitor is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,336 to Chen.
At times, a cook may be preoccupied with other tasks and ignore the monitor's alarm. As a result, the food may become overcooked. If the alarm is recognized, but the roast is not yet needed for serving, the cook can reduce the oven temperature so that the roast will not overcook. Often, however, when the roast is later removed from the oven, the cook forgets to raise the oven temperature and an embarrassing delay may occur before the next roast is cooked enough for serving. As a result of these problems, present monitoring systems have not been altogether satisfactory.